dumbly


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Related to dumbly: irresolutely, pointedly, stupidly

dumb

 (dŭm)
adj. dumb·er, dumb·est
1.
a. Lacking the power of speech. Used of animals and inanimate objects.
b. Offensive Incapable of using speech; mute. Used of humans. See Usage Note at mute.
2. Temporarily speechless, as with shock or fear: I was dumb with disbelief.
3. Unwilling to speak; taciturn.
4. Not expressed or articulated in sounds or words: dumb resentment.
5. Nautical Not self-propelling.
6. Conspicuously unintelligent; stupid: dumb officials; a dumb decision.
7. Unintentional; haphazard: dumb luck.
tr.v. dumbed, dumb·ing, dumbs
To make silent or dumb.
Phrasal Verb:
dumb down (or up)
Slang To rewrite for a less educated or less sophisticated audience.

[Middle English, from Old English.]

dumb′ly adv.
dumb′ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adv.1.dumbly - in a stupid manner; "he had so rapaciously desired and so obtusely expected to find her alone"
2.dumbly - in an inarticulate manner; "I nodded dumbly and he slit the envelope"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
بِصَمَم، بِحُمق، بِبَلادَه
němě
dumt
í òögn
aptalcabudalaca

dumbly

[ˈdʌmli] adv (= without speaking) → sans mot dire
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

dumbly

advstumm
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dumb

(dam) adjective
1. without the power of speech. She was born deaf and dumb; We were struck dumb with astonishment.
2. silent. On this point he was dumb.
3. (especially American) very stupid. What a dumb thing to do!
ˈdumbness noun
ˈdumbly adverb
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
For you see no one point precisely; not one distinct feature is revealed; no nose, eyes, ears, or mouth; no face; he has none, proper; nothing but that one broad firmament of a forehead, pleated with riddles; dumbly lowering with the doom of boats, and ships, and men.
The convicts stopped when they reached the post and, while sacks were being brought, looked dumbly around as a wounded beast looks at an approaching huntsman.
Pollyanna nodded dumbly. Her eyes were a little wide and frightened.
In general the house was quiet, dumbly quiet, without resonances of any sort, something like what one would imagine the interior of a convent would be.
Michael alone made no sound, suffering dumbly in the bedlam of misery.
Her head drooped; she made no reply; she waited, dumbly obedient to the firmer will than her own.
Then he fell to dumbly playing, without striking the notes, while his little pupil was taken to an open window for air, and was otherwise petted and restored.
It interposed between all new resolutions and their fulfillment; it seemed like a stubborn ghost, dumbly entreating to be laid.
Now, with a check for sixteen thousand--SIXTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!--in his hand, he stood dumbly, curiously unmoved.
When they had passed the little town of Stourcastle, dumbly somnolent under its thick brown thatch, they reached higher ground.
Sir Leicester is content enough that the ironmaster should feel that there is no hurry there; there, in that ancient house, rooted in that quiet park, where the ivy and the moss have had time to mature, and the gnarled and warted elms and the umbrageous oaks stand deep in the fern and leaves of a hundred years; and where the sun-dial on the terrace has dumbly recorded for centuries that time which was as much the property of every Dedlock--while he lasted-- as the house and lands.
The prince stood dumbly and blindly before her, and suddenly grew pale.